When I was in college, I served as a camp counselor one summer.

And in North Carolina, when you go camping in the mountains, even in August, the temperature can drop below freezing during the night.

When that happens, it doesn’t take long before water freezes.

So, you have to use your canteen to break the ice so you can get water for cooking or drinking, and you have to keep breaking the ice or the water might freeze as hard as a rock.

That is what happens to us if our hearts are filled with the deceitfulness of sin.

We need people we give permission to who will come and break the ice that forms around our hearts.

If we become filled with pride, we need someone to exhort us. If we get depressed, we need someone to encourage us.

That is why the community of the church is so important.

We need our brothers and sisters in Christ to embrace us, help us, love us, encourage us—and to break the ice before it hardens our hearts.

–by Dr. Ed Young of WinningWalk.org